qr for tekla structures- user guide · 1. start tekla structures and open the model 2. start the qr...

Celsa Steel Service PA/17.10.2019

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QR for Tekla Structures - User Guide

Introduction QR for Tekla Structures is an extension application running on Tekla Structures. With help of this

extension you can access the QR web service to

Create and modify the QR building areas and QR listings in building areas.

Add or remove reinforcement bars of Tekla model into cut&bend and/or cage lists by simply

dragging the reinforcement bars into the desired lists.

Update the content of the lists whenever the Tekla model has been changed

When the (model) reinforcement is added to QR listing the application is getting all available

information from the model and adds the reinforcement to the new or existing row in the QR listing.

In addition the application is keeping track of which reinforcement bars are assigned into which listing

and row in QR server. This linking between the model reinforcement bar and QR listing row is stored in

Tekla model with help of user defined attributes.

Basic concepts The QR for Tekla Structures is an extension which have its own user interface containing different views

showing both Tekla model and QR information, input fields and command buttons for various actions.

Extension is accessing Tekla model through the Tekla Open API interface. The extension is also accessing

the QR system/database over internet with help of QR web service.

For QR data the extension have a temporary local storage. All changes to QR data are made first only

tentatively in the local storage only. As soon as the user is ready and wants she/he can ‘save’ the

tentative changes. In ‘save’ operation all tentative QR data changes are synchronized over internet to

QR database. It is possible to save changes partially, for example only one listing but after a full save the

local storage and QR database contains exactly same data.


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The QR for Tekla Structures extension is also storing the linking between the model reinforcement and

the corresponding QR item. With help of the linking the extensions ‘knows’ whether the model

reinforcement object has been assigned in some QR item or not. One model reinforcement object can

be assigned only to one single QR item but multiple, typically similar, reinforcement objects can be

assigned into same QR item and thus one QR item may have several assigned model reinforcement

objects.

Physically the ‘linking’ is finally stored by using the extended user defined attributes in the Tekla model.

Typical workflow In the simplest case to get the model reinforcement data transferred to QR server the following steps

can be executed.

1. Start Tekla Structures and open the model

2. Start the QR for Tekla extension and login

3. Select the QR project from the dropdown list. Please note that the project must be created using

QR web interface as there is no ‘Crete new project’ feature in the QR for Tekla application

4. Select or create the QR building area(s).

5. Select or create the QR listing(s)

6. Assign the selected reinforcement into the desired QR listing by dragging the un-assigned

reinforcement into the QR listing.

7. After all desired reinforcement bars has been assigned to some QR listing you can ‘save’ your

work. During the ‘saving’ the newly added and/or modified data is finally update in QR server.

8. Save Tekla model to make sure the QR user defined attributes are stored persistently in Tekla

model.

Preconditions Ensure you have the wanted reinforcement in the Tekla model, without having the actual reinforcement

in the model it won’t make sense to use the QR for Tekla application.

In the model make sure you have used the materials (steel grade + size) which are available in the QR

server. Also make sure the bending shape definitions in Tekla Structures are compatible with the shape

definitions in the QR server. The reinforcement data to transfer is really just the shape code (bending

shape), dimensions and angles. Naturally the shape codes shall be fully matching as otherwise the

fabricated reinforcement bar won’t be same as the reinforcement in the model.


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User interface

Login window When you start the extension application you will first enter to the

login window. In this window you must first select the Celsa QR server,

enter the username and password of your QR account. To use the

application you must have valid user account at the selected QR

service. To get the account please contact your local Celsa

representative.

When you click the ‘Login’ button the application is trying to connect

the QR service with given user account. If the account is valid and

active you will enter to the working view of the application; otherwise

you get notified that the user name or password are not valid.

Please note that when you are running the application you must have

the internet connection available as otherwise it won’t be possible to

check the user account and request any data from the QR service.

When you are logging into the QR service the application is getting

some initial information from the QR system and simultaneously

collecting the reinforcement data from Tekla model. This may take

several minutes in case the internet connection is slow and/or the

model is rather large.

QR for Tekla is storing the assignment data with help of user defined attributes. If these user defined

attributes are not pre-defined in your Tekla Structures installation the application will copy the

necessary user defined attribute definitions file into your Tekla model folder and shows the following

notification.

You can continue working without reopening the Tekla model but you won’t be able to review or modify

the user defined attributes before the model has been re-opened.

Figure 1, QR for Tekla Structures login window


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Working window Once you have successfully logged in the working view of the application will be shown.

The ’Object data’ area contains the

properties of the QR object selected

in the tree view in the middle area

of the user interface.

This area contains the QR project

selection and all command buttons.

The drop down list contains all

projects of your QR account.

This area contains the tree view

showing all QR data of the project.

When any of the tree view nodes is

selected the commands are enabled

or disabled depending on the type

and state of the selected node.

This area contains the table view of

all reinforcement in Tekla model

which has not yet been listed in any

of the lists in QR tree view.

You can re-order the list by clicking

the column headers.

You can select one or more lines in

the table and drag & drop the rebars

into QR tree view.

By ticking the check box you can

also select the table rows by

selecting the rebar in Tekla model

view.


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Object data The content of ‘Object data’ depends on the selected node in the tree view. This area contains the

properties which are editable by QR for Tekla application. More editable properties may be available in

QR web interface.

You can shrink or extend the ‘Object data’ area by clicking the top left button .

Tree view The tree view contains the selected

project node as a root node in the

view. Project node contains all

building areas of the project.

Building area node contains all listings

of the building area.

Every listing has following sub nodes.

Cut & bend

Cages

Stock lengths

Articles

Unassigned reinforcement This table contains the list of model

reinforcement item which has not been

added/assigned to any of the lists.

The model reinforcement item can be

either a single bar, rebar group or a cage

in Tekla model.

The ‘cage’ item is a reinforcement

‘assembly’ where all single bars

and/groups forming the cage are

attached into a (dummy) steel part.

Typically the steel part is an extra part which only role is to collect the reinforcement into a single

assembly which can be numbered and you can make an assembly drawing for fabrication.

In addition to cages modeled as assemblies it is possible to create manually the QR cages as will be

described in later paragraphs.


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The table contains the basic information of the reinforcement and you can re-order the table rows by

clicking the table column headers.

The intention of the table is that you can select the reinforcement items either directly in the table or

indirectly in the Tekla model view and drag & drop the selected reinforcement items (=table rows) into

desired listing.

You can shrink or extend the ‘Unassigned reinforcement’ table by clicking the top left button .

Selecting reinforcement items To get the table rows selected by selecting the item in the Tekla model view you need to check the tick

box ‘Select objects in view or table’.

Please note that the effect of this check box is two directional in the way that changing the selection

either in Tekla model view, unassigned table view or tree view will select the corresponding items in the

others. Selecting a reinforcement which has been assigned into some listing will select the

corresponding node in the tree view whereas selecting an unassigned reinforcement selects the row in

node in the unassigned reinforcement table.

Actions of the application

Creating a new building area To create a new building area select the project node (root) in the tree view and click the ‘Create new

building area’ button.

The new building area node is created and you can fill in the building area properties in the ‘Object data’

area.


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Please note that the new building area is

tentatively created and modified only in the

tree view and it won’t be visible in QR web

until you save the created building area.

In the tree view the building area name has an

extra star (*) denoting the fact that it is a new

or modified building area.

Please note that saving the building area node

will also save all sub objects including the

listings and all items in the listings.

Creating a new listing To create a new listing select the building area in which you want the new listing to be created and click

the ‘Create a new schedule …’ button.

The new listing is created with a default name and you can change the name and fill in other listing

properties in the ‘Object data’ area.


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Please note that the new listing is tentatively

created and modified only in the tree view

and it won’t be visible in QR web until you

save the created listing.

In the tree view the extra star (*) denotes the

fact that the listing is a new or modified

listing.

Please note that saving the listing will save the

listing properties (name, colors and the label)

and all new or modified items in the listing.


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Adding reinforcement bars into the listing (Cut&Bend)

Once you have one or more listings in

the tree view you can start to add

reinforcement into the listing.

Simply select desired in reinforcement

items and drag & drop them into

desired listing.

To select the reinforcement item you

can select the line in the unassigned

table view or in Tekla model view as

descriped in paraghraph Selecting

reinforcement items

You can drop the items either on top

the listing node or the sub node

‘Cut&Bend’.

Please note that the application is

either creating a new row or adding

the number of cut&bend bars in an

existing row automatically based on

the current model properties of the

reinforcement.

In QR you are able to enter separately

the number of groups and number in

group but by default QR for Tekla sets the number of groups to one and the total number is equal to the

number of bars in the model. You can change the number of groups in the ‘Obejct data’ panel but you

can’t modify the total number.

When the Tekla model reinforcement object is added into one listing row it is assigned to that particular

row. All model reinforcement objects are asiigned into the particular listing row and are also shown as a

sub nodes for the row in the tree view.

Adding reinforcement cages into the listing (Cages)


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Adding stock length reinforcement into the listing (Stock lengths) Instead of adding reinforcement into

cut&bend or cages list you can drop the

reinforcement into one of the sub nodes in the

‘Stock lengths’ node.

The actual stock length alternatives (=sub

nodes) varies per country and QR server. Also

the grades and sizes available as stock length

bars do vary and QR for Tekla only allows you

to drop bars into node which is available in the

QR server.

When the reinforcement item is dropped into

one of the stock length nodes the QR for Tekla

application is either creating a new row or increasing the quantity of an existing row automatically.

When the reinforcement (model) item is added into a stock length row it is

Adding and modifying article items (Articles) You can add, modify and remove available article items

using QR for Tekla but keep in mind that currently article

items have not any link or connection to the Tekla model.

To add a new article item row in the listing select the listing

and click the ‘Create article item’ button

In the ‘Object data’ panel you can enter or modify the

article group, article name and quantity.

Please note that article groups and articles varies per

country and the QR server.


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Saving All changes made in QR data (tree view) are stored only locally and to get the data updated in QR server

you need to ‘save’ the changes. Saving in this context means that all new, modified or deleted data is

sent over internet and stored in QR server.

After saving the up-to-date QR data will be visible in QR web interface for all other users.

You can do saving in different levels and QR for Tekla is saving the selected item (project, building area

or listing) and all sub items of the selected items. Please note that only modified data needs to be

transferred over internet and thus it does not matter are you saving a single listing or whole project if

only one listing row was changed.

Deleting (QR) items You can delete any of the QR items in tree view by selecting the item and clicking ‘Delete’ key or delete

button

You can delete on individual row in the listing, whole listing or even the building area. In any case the

selected item and all sub items gets deleted. However, like in case of creating new QR items the items

are deleted only in the local temporary storage. The final delete (in QR server) happens only when you

save the modified listing, building area or project.

When the QR items is deleted all model reinforcement items assigned to any of the deleted QR item or

sub items will be returned in the ‘Unassigned reinforcement’ list and number of items in the list is

increasing.

Updating the QR listings In case you have modified the reinforcement data in Tekla model which has been assigned to some QR

listing row you can run the repair and update operation which will go through the listing checks whether

the QR data is up-to-date or not.

The repair and update process will take care of following change scenarios

Update the count of QR item if the model reinforcement was deleted or the count was changed.

Any QR item where the count gets zero will be removed.

Update the QR item data to match the modified model reinforcement. Existing QR item gets

split and a new QR item gets created in case two or more assigned model reinforcement can’t

be anymore represented by a single QR item

Merge two or more QR items into one in case after the model changes would be duplicate

(equal parameter values excluding the quantity) QR items

Before running the repair and update operation it is good to reload the model reinforcement data, just

to be sure the update is based on latest up-to-date model reinforcement data. To run the repair and

update operation select the listing in the tree view and click the ‘Repair and update’ button

Once completed the message fox with following information will be shown.


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If any of the rows in the listing were changed they appear as modified in the tree view. Please note that

also in this case the changes were made only tentatively in local storage and you need to save the listing

to get the listing updated also in QR server/web interface.

Reloading data from QR When you run the extension first time in certain model and select the QR project first time the extension

is getting all current building areas and listings from QR server.

After saving of any changes the QR data in server and QR web interface is up-to-date and you don’t need

to reload any data from QR.

However if you or someone else have made any ‘manual’ changes in QR Web interface to same project

you can update the local QR data by running the reload from QR command

You can reload the selected listing, building area or the whole project from QR server by selecting the

QR item in the tree view and clicking the command button.

If you try to reload any QR item which has any tentative changes the following notification is shown.


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Running the wizard to create building areas and listings automatically With help of the ‘Wizard’ command you can create semi automatically the building areas and the listings

with content.

However, in order to get the wizard outcome to make sense you must ensure that the Tekla model

reinforcement has been created consistently following some modeling convention.

To run the wizard click the button and the following dialog will be shown.

Here you can select from which Tekla

model property the building area name

and label 1 are taken.

Here you can select from which Tekla

model property the listing name and

other parameters are taken.

You can create the building areas and

listings for selected or all unassigned

rebars.


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Reloading the model reinforcement When you start the QR for Tekla extension the current model reinforcement data gets automatically

loaded into ‘Unassigned reinforcement’ table.

If you make any changes to reinforcement in the model after the extension was started you should

reload the reinforcement data to make sure the ‘Unassigned reinforcement’ list is up-to-date.

To reload the list you can use the ‘Reload all’ or ‘Reload selected’ commands.

Typically you should reload all reinforcement but in case of very large models reloading might take lot of

time and thus you may want to reload only selected reinforcement which you are planning to

add/assign next.

The only drawback of loading only selected reinforcement is that you can’t use the ‘Repair and update’

command to update an existing QR listing which may contain other than just the selected rebars. As a

remainder of this limitation the extension shows the following notification.

Logging off

Working offline

qr for tekla structures- user guide · 1. start tekla structures and open the model 2. start the qr...

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